Museum Review: MOMA

I am not well known for being a fan of contemporary and modern art. However, I would never turn down the opportunity to visit a world-famous museum, MOMA in this case, which we did on our recent trip to New York City. Doing some extra research beforehand because we were planning on visiting with a baby, I also found out that the museum was hosting what promised to be an interesting exhibit on Tim Burton's career.

It was a Saturday and a beautiful day in the city, so it wasn't surprising that the museum was extremely crowded. At the Tim Burton exhibit, I had plenty of time to contemplate the Greatness of Burton, because of the sheer volume of bodies that had to be navigated to see the artwork. The exhibit was completely packed with people, despite the (presumably) strict timed ticketing system that the museum had in place. In addition, the art (mostly caricatures and small pieces, with scatterings of modeled 3D objects by other artists based on his movie concepts, and movie memorabilia) was packed on the walls, so it was crowded in that sense as well. And forget standing still to watch one of the video installations in the cramped and overheated spaces allowed.

The rest of my party visited the 5th floor (paintings and sculptures 1880s-1940s).

 Appreciating the artistic stylings of Mr. van Gogh

The theoretical quiet nursing room promised by the visitor's guide did not materialize, and museum staff were not so helpful. Trying to find a quiet place to nurse a six-month old among the Matisses was not a success. Trying to get the docents to find out if there was stroller/ramp access was not a success. And, of course, there were the eleventy-hundred people.

Marina Abramović performs a piece from

"The Artist is Present," twelve gajillion people watch

Which, if you are in to watching random people stare at the artist, can be viewed Live! Online! during exhibit hours. Oh, Modern Art. Sometimes you can be pretty cool, in a crazy way. Don't tell anyone I said that. Apparently, some patrons were recently ejected for inappropriate touching of performers in another one of her pieces, leading me to wonder what the heck I was doing with the not-live art on the 4th and 5th floors.

I did end up spending about a half hour on my own in the collection, cruising past the Cezannes, the Warhols, the Magrittes, the Duchamps . . . If I had it to do over again I would wish for more time and more helpful staff. And to go on a Tuesday morning when the museum opens. All pipe dreams, for sure.

Grade: C+

Museum Review: Bodies Revealed

I am generally a fairly squeamish person, but I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed a recent trip to the Bodies exhibit at Foxwoods Casino. We had planned for some time on visiting an incarnation of the exhibit--a traveling show that features Real! Human! Bodies!--but missed it in the Boston area and didn't want to make the drive to New York City. Thank goodness for Foxwoods, which also enabled our "bonus" museum visit to the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center. The coolest part of the Bodies exhibit was definitely the veins revealed by some obscure and deliciously gruesome process. The display was ultimately clinical, rather than gory, and ended up feeling more like an anatomy lesson than a House of Horrors. We didn't even have any qualms when faced by the row of fetuses in various stages of growth. The only downside was probably the steadily cautionary tone of the descriptions ("these are a smoker's lungs--you shouldn't smoke!" and "obese people are more likely to have deformed organs like this--watch what you eat and exercise!" and "are you sure you don't want to stop smoking RIGHT NOW?"). Despite the proselytizing, it was more often than not that we couldn't figure out the real difference between the regular lung and the cancerous lung . . . I would be hard pressed, if given a sample and told to identify them, to figure out which one looked more like my mother's lungs upon her death. Not to mention the cancerous breast. I'm not sure the museum was worth the $20 per person price of admission (we cheated and shared the audio tour), but it was interesting. If anything, it wasn't informative enough--not enough things were labeled, especially the "cross-sections" (basically people sliced from top to bottom, side to side, and front to back, then positioned with space to see between the slices), which were otherwise really cool. I have never been at an exhibit that made me so often stop and examine myself physically.

Grade: B

Random Thoughts:

Reading more about the controversy surrounding the exhibit . . . the bodies may be executed Chinese political prisoners. Hmm. It would really be nice if this sort of scientific/educational/commercial endeavor could be achieved without exploitation. Aren't there fat, white, middle-class guys out there who are willing to give their bodies for science? I maintain that the theory behind the exhibit--educating people about their own bodies--and the process by which the bodies are preserved--is worthwhile, but in retrospect I hope those who provided their bodies received some compensation.

A lot of the people at the exhibit were pretty juvenile, despite appearing to be adult. I'm looking at you, former frat boys, and YOU, giggly (possibly drunk) ladies. Yes, those were genitalia. I blame Foxwoods.

We didn't leave nearly enough time for the Pequot Museum. For some reason, I thought I could breeze through in an hour and 45 minutes (like the Uffizi in Florence, no I'm not proud) despite the ticket-seller's warning, and I was wrong. I will have to return with a penitent air at some point in the future and cough up another outrageous amount of money. Also, the viewing tower offers a super view of . . . the casino. Which is really fairly ugly, compared to Mohegan Sun . . . which is no great shakes.

Museum Review: Green Gables & LMM Cavendish National Historic Site

Cavendish, PEI, trades in shamelessly on its presumed relationship with Lucy Maud Montgomery's fictional town of Avonlea, most famously inhabited by Anne Shirley of Anne of Green Gables fame. But between the Shining Waters Family Fun Park, Kindred Spirits Country Inn, Anne's Windy Poplars Cottages, Bosom Buddies Cottages and Suites, and Avonlea Village, where you can "Live the story as you travel in time 100 years and interact with the characters as the story unfolds around you," there is an actual historic site to visit. The price of admission includes the Green Gables farmhouse, some re-created barnyard buildings, and the opportunity to walk through Lover's Lane and the Haunted Wood. The house, on which L.M. Montgomery loosely based the fictional Green Gables, was actually owned her cousins, doesn't have much in the way of gables, and was updated somewhat since the turn of the century. The site managers (marketers?) were in the unenviable position of having hordes of tourists coming through and wanting to see the "real" Green Gables, so they took the house and, with generous donations from Cavendish residents, attempted to recreate the book as faithfully as possible. The house floor plan therefore includes "Matthew's Room" and "Anne's Room," and (judging by our observations) the tourists are happy. Once you get past the genuine attempt to historically re-create a fictional character's homestead, the house itself is quite charming, although not rigorously authentic, with a simple layout and a few nice historical pieces.
The gardens immediately around the house are delightful, and Lover's Lane was scattered with profusions of Forget-Me-Nots and quivering aspens. Spring is farther behind where it was in Massachusetts, so we were treated to lilacs, bleeding hearts, and tulips, all of which have long since shriveled at home. In addition to the Green Gables site, a few extra dollars Canadian will buy admission to the Site of L.M. Montgomery's Cavendish Home, which is just that, a stone foundation where Montgomery's grandparents' house once stood, and where she lived until departing for Ontario in 1911. This site, while much quieter than Green Gables, is still run by the Macneill family, and had a very pleasant bookstore in which one could (and one did) buy postcards with scans of original Anne book covers. Returning to Green Gables by way of the Haunted Wood path (not that daunting during broad daylight, with other tourists brushing past), we were somewhat shocked to have the pleasant quiet of our day punctuated by the brash vulgarity of the gift shop, which was full of embroidered PEI items and blaring music from Anne of Green Gables: The Musical!. All I can say is: If I had to work in that shop every day, with that soundtrack as my background music, I would be a very difficult person to live with.

Overall Grade: B


Random Notes:

For such a small town, Cavendish also has a large assortment of kooky "museums" and amusements, presumably for parents to take their children to on rainy days when the beach is not an option and they are already bored with the limited charm of Green Gables. Some examples: Jurassic Bart’s Dinosaur Museum & Petting Farm, Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum, The Fantazmagoric Museum of the Strange and Unusual, and Wax World of the Stars (including Willie Nelson!).

The good thing about seeing touristy things in Canada: You only have to read half as much stuff as you think you're going to have to when you first see the explanatory sign, because it's all translated into French. This part is also useful when the English part of the sign has been rubbed away, but only when your French skills aren't as rusty as mine are.

Several people from Salt Lake City and Orem, Utah visited this site yesterday. I am sure this doesn't have anything to do with me but, cosmically, it feels like it should.

Museum Review: MASS MoCA

MASS MoCA, or the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, is located in the erstwhile mill town of North Adams. My most recent trip was my second to the museum, so now of course I consider myself an expert and will therefore grace the world with my opinions. Most of the installations were different from those of a year ago, which brings us to one of the key truths about modern art: it is kind of temporary. During my visit to the area, I also spent time at other museums with more traditional collections (Impressionists, Renaissance, etc.), and would never expect them to deinstall/decommission/destroy the art because its time in the museum was finished. If it disappeared at all, it would probably be because some other museum somewhere was doing a retrospective on Monet's cathedral paintings, and they were trying to collect all the examples they could find.


Self Portrait In Modern Art (click to enlarge)

I saw a variety of installations, including some high-powered "conceptual" art and a few individual pieces that induced hearty eye-rolls. I did enjoy the crucified narwhal, though. I mourned the absence of the Spencer Finch exhibit which had made such a positive impression on my first visit. I took the opportunity on this second visit to consider the question of art itself, and modern art in particular--the jury is still out on that one. Anyway, the collection at MASS MoCA is definitely worth seeing with the aid of a handy Museum Pass, which can be checked out from the North Adams library with the assistance of a C/W MARS library card in good standing. I must confess, however, that my favorite part of the museum is actually the building(s), converted from industrial use to what almost seems an ideal new purpose. The vast space couldn't be utilized more perfectly than to house giant silver blobs and folded concrete monstrosities. My second favorite part of the museum is its (hopefully) unique approach to sponsorship. Most of us are accustomed, during this age of corporate sponsorship, to hearing of the Ford Keys to the Game, or the Pepsi Home Run Challenge. And this trend is also visible in cultural institutions--park benches, bricks, rooms, and conference centers have all been known to bear the names of worthy donors. However, nowhere else have I ever seen an endowed Emergency Exit.


The Rachel and Jay Tarses Emergency Exit

I have not even touched on the subject of the Leslie Gould Lightwell. The burning question remains: How large a donation is required to procure the naming rights to your own emergency exit?

Grades:

Art: B-
Buildings: A+
Price: A
Parking: A
Elevators: B+ (some of them are large enough for giant sculptures, and that makes it easier for me to ride them)
Cafe: B
Gift Store: B-

Overall Grade: A-

Random Thoughts:

Another feature of modern art that doesn't really resonate with me: the preponderance of video screens and noise. Why must everything be displayed on a screen? Do artists really think we have a spare 45 minutes to watch their video journey? We have other museums to see, people!